Statistics on basic and secondary education provide data on educational activity in all types of schools and vocational training after secondary education in vocational colleges. Main units of the survey are students (new entrants and graduates) and teaching staff. The main breakdowns of characteristics for collecting data on enrolled students are following: sex, year of birth, grade, repeating a grade, level of education, mode of attendance, type, profile and location of the basic (secondary) school, profession/specialty studied, studying of foreign languages, studying of mother tongue. The date of the observation is October 1.

Classification system

· International Standard Classification of Education, 2011 version (ISCED 2011);

· Classification of the fields of education and specialties taught in the vocational secondary schools and art schools;

· Classification of the fields of education and profession taught in the vocational training schools and classes.

Sector coverage

The survey covers all governmental, municipal and created according to the existing legal order private schools.

Statistical concepts and definitions

A pupil/student is every person enrolled in an educational program of formal education according to ISCED irrespective of the mode of attendance. Formal education includes the educational programmes implement in the legitimate educational institutions created according to the existing legal order.

Newly enrolled pupils/students - pupils/students who have been enrolled for the first time in the initial grade or course of the respective educational level are considered newly enrolled. This means that those which have been enrolled in the same educational level previous years are not included to the number of the newly enrolled.

Graduates are those pupils/students who have received a document for a completed level from a legitimate education institution, containing all the necessary records and stamps according to the law.

Students who have left school are defined as students who were enrolled in the beginning of the previous school year but before its end due to some of the listed reasons had left the school. Those who have left school cannot be treated as dropouts from the educational system because they could continue their education during the next school year and those who were under 16 years of age are obliged to continue their education.

The teachers are official persons who directly conduct the training sessions according to curriculum irrespective of whether they are full or part time employees. Directors and assistant directors are observed separately although a great part of them may have lecturing functions as well.

The management personnel include official persons performing management functions at the level of the educational institution.

An educational institution is defined as a centre taking independent decisions, which performs educational services for persons and organizations and is created according to the rules of the law. This means that the institution has a manager (director, rector or another manager) i.e. that this is an 'independent' educational institution. 'Dependent' educational institutions are branches or units known under other names and are typically subordinate to an independent institution.

Regulation (EC) N 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning;

Commission regulation (EU) No 88/2011;

Law on Statistics;

Law of the Level of Education, Educational Minimum and Curricu

Pre-school and School education act.

Data sharing

Not applicable.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality - policy

· Law on Statistics;

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Confidentiality - data treatment

In compliance to the Law on Statistics (Articles 25 and 26).

Release policy

Release calendar

In accordance to the dates defined in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute.

A set of quality criteria have been set up within the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

Quality assessment

The national quality report provides users with basic information on quality at national level.

Relevance

User needs

State and regional authorities, international organisations, national and foreign users.

User satisfaction

Information is not available.

Completeness

Information is not available.

Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

Not applicable (census).

Sampling error

Not applicable (census).

Non-sampling error

Not applicable (census).

Timeliness and punctuality

Timeliness

· Reference date: October 1;

· Fieldwork: October - November;

· Processing: December - March;

· Dissemination of national results: April;

· Transmission of data to Eurostat: September.

Punctuality

All deliverables were sent in time.

Coherence and comparability

Comparability - geographical

Fully comparable with all EU member states.

Comparability - over time

From 2000/2001 to 2016/2017 school year, there is partial comparability due to the changes of national legislation.

Since 2017/2018 school year, there is break in the time series due to changes in the national education system (Pre-school and School Education Act, promulgated SG No.79 of 13 October 2015). The data are not comparable to the previous school years.

Coherence - cross domain

Data is coherent with 'Adult education survey'.

Coherence - internal

Carried out quality tests, mainly on the coherency of the gathered information.

Cost and burden

Information is not available.

Data revision

Data revision - policy

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Data revision - practice

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Statistical processing

Source data

All types of state, municipal and private (created according to the existing legal order) schools, from I to XII grade and the vocational colleges after secondary education.

Frequency of data collection

Annual

Data collection

Census via statistical questionnaire 'Report on schools'.

Data validation

Data validation is done by the National Statistical Institute and quality tests are carried out by the Eurostat.

Statistics on basic and secondary education provide data on educational activity in all types of schools and vocational training after secondary education in vocational colleges. Main units of the survey are students (new entrants and graduates) and teaching staff. The main breakdowns of characteristics for collecting data on enrolled students are following: sex, year of birth, grade, repeating a grade, level of education, mode of attendance, type, profile and location of the basic (secondary) school, profession/specialty studied, studying of foreign languages, studying of mother tongue. The date of the observation is October 1.

Classification system

· International Standard Classification of Education, 2011 version (ISCED 2011);

· Classification of the fields of education and specialties taught in the vocational secondary schools and art schools;

· Classification of the fields of education and profession taught in the vocational training schools and classes.

Sector coverage

The survey covers all governmental, municipal and created according to the existing legal order private schools.

Statistical concepts and definitions

A pupil/student is every person enrolled in an educational program of formal education according to ISCED irrespective of the mode of attendance. Formal education includes the educational programmes implement in the legitimate educational institutions created according to the existing legal order.

Newly enrolled pupils/students - pupils/students who have been enrolled for the first time in the initial grade or course of the respective educational level are considered newly enrolled. This means that those which have been enrolled in the same educational level previous years are not included to the number of the newly enrolled.

Graduates are those pupils/students who have received a document for a completed level from a legitimate education institution, containing all the necessary records and stamps according to the law.

Students who have left school are defined as students who were enrolled in the beginning of the previous school year but before its end due to some of the listed reasons had left the school. Those who have left school cannot be treated as dropouts from the educational system because they could continue their education during the next school year and those who were under 16 years of age are obliged to continue their education.

The teachers are official persons who directly conduct the training sessions according to curriculum irrespective of whether they are full or part time employees. Directors and assistant directors are observed separately although a great part of them may have lecturing functions as well.

The management personnel include official persons performing management functions at the level of the educational institution.

An educational institution is defined as a centre taking independent decisions, which performs educational services for persons and organizations and is created according to the rules of the law. This means that the institution has a manager (director, rector or another manager) i.e. that this is an 'independent' educational institution. 'Dependent' educational institutions are branches or units known under other names and are typically subordinate to an independent institution.

All types of state, municipal and private (created according to the existing legal order) schools, from I to XII grade and the vocational colleges after secondary education.

Frequency of data collection

Annual

Data collection

Census via statistical questionnaire 'Report on schools'.

Data validation

Data validation is done by the National Statistical Institute and quality tests are carried out by the Eurostat.

Data compilation

Not applicable.

Adjustment

Not applicable.

Quality management

Quality assurance

A set of quality criteria have been set up within the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

Quality assessment

The national quality report provides users with basic information on quality at national level.

Relevance

User needs

State and regional authorities, international organisations, national and foreign users.

User satisfaction

Information is not available.

Completeness

Information is not available.

Data completeness - rate

Not applicable (census).

Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

Not applicable (census).

Sampling error

Not applicable (census).

Sampling errors - indicators

Not applicable (census).

Non-sampling error

Not applicable (census).

Coverage error

Not applicable (census).

Over-coverage - rate

Not applicable (census).

Common units - proportion

Not applicable (census).

Measurement error

Not applicable (census).

Non response error

Not applicable (census).

Unit non-response - rate

Not applicable (census).

Item non-response - rate

Not applicable (census).

Processing error

Not applicable (census).

Imputation - rate

Not applicable (no imputations).

Model assumption error

Not applicable (census).

Seasonal adjustment

Not applicable (no seasonal adjustments).

Data revision - policy

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Data revision - practice

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Data revision - average size

Not applicable (preliminary data not published).

Timeliness and punctuality

Timeliness

· Reference date: October 1;

· Fieldwork: October - November;

· Processing: December - March;

· Dissemination of national results: April;

· Transmission of data to Eurostat: September.

Time lag - first results

26 weeks.

Time lag - final results

Not applicable (only final results published).

Punctuality

All deliverables were sent in time.

Punctuality - delivery and publication

Not applicable (data published on exact date).

Coherence and comparability

Comparability - geographical

Fully comparable with all EU member states.

Asymmetry for mirror flows statistics - coefficient

Not applicable (no flows).

Comparability - over time

From 2000/2001 to 2016/2017 school year, there is partial comparability due to the changes of national legislation.

Since 2017/2018 school year, there is break in the time series due to changes in the national education system (Pre-school and School Education Act, promulgated SG No.79 of 13 October 2015). The data are not comparable to the previous school years.

Length of comparable time series

Until 2016/2017 school year - 17 years.

Coherence - cross domain

Data is coherent with 'Adult education survey'.

Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics

Not applicable (annual survey).

Coherence - National Accounts

Not applicable.

Coherence - internal

Carried out quality tests, mainly on the coherency of the gathered information.

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Adult Education Survey is conducted once every five years in all EU Member States through a common methodology and a harmonized toolkit that provides comparable data for assessment on lifelong learning.

The National Statistical Institute presents final results from the survey conducted in the end of 2016.

The main results of the yearly exhaustive surveys that characterize the activity of the educational institutions, conducted by the National Statistical Institute, are:

The number of children in kindergartens for 2013/2014 was 240.6 thousand as an increase of 2.4% is observed in comparison with the previous school year.

In 2013, 28.9 and 27.4 thousand students graduated secondary education in respectively general and vocational schools.

For the 2013/2014 academic year, the number of enrollments in higher education remained almost unchanged in comparison with the previous academic year - 277.2 thousand persons as a decrease in the number of students in private universities is registered.

Significant increase of the number of Ph.D. students is observed. As of 31.12.2013, 6 055 Ph.D. students were enrolled in the country, or 12.7% more than the previous academic year.

The main results of the yearly exhaustive surveys that characterize the activity of the educational institutions, conducted by the National Statistical Institute (NSI), are:

• The number of children in kindergartens for 2012/2013 was 235.0 thousand as an increase of 3.1% is observed in comparison with the previous school year.
• In 2012, 30.3 and 29.4 thousand students graduated secondary education in respectively general and vocational schools.
• For the 2012/2013 academic year, the number of enrollments in higher education remained almost unchanged in comparison with the previous academic year - 278.6 thousand persons as a decrease in the number of students in colleges (education-qualification degree "Professional Bachelor") and in private universities is registered.
• Significant increase of the number of Ph.D. students is observed. As of 31.12.2012, 5 371 Ph.D. students were enrolled in the country, or 14.2% more than the previous academic year.

Adult Education Survey covers broad range of topics, connected to the education and training of adults, like participation in different forms of Lifelong Learning (formal, non-formal and informal), reasons for non-participation, access to information on possibilities for education and training, use of computers, language skills, participation in cultural and social events.

The educational structure of population aged 7 and more improves considerably, following the clearly expressed tendency of increase of the number and share of population with tertiary and upper secondary education and decrease the number of people with lower secondary or lower education.

As of 1.02.2011 the Population census results shows 1 348.7 thousand persons with tertiary education, or each fifth person (19.6%). With upper secondary education are 2 990.4 thousand persons (43.4%). The proportion of persons with primary or lower education is 13.9% (or every seventh in 100).

During the 2006 - 2010 period the educational attainment of the population aged 25 - 64 continues to improve following the clear-cut tendency towards an increase of the number and share of the population with tertiary and secondary education together with the decrease of the number and share of people with primary and lower education. The relative share of the population with tertiary education (college and university) increased from 21.9% in 2006 to 23.2% in 2010 or by 1.3 points and the share of the population with secondary education increased from 52.5 to 56.2% or by 3.7 points. Parallel to this, the relative share of persons with primary and lower education decreased by 5.0 points - from 25.6 to 20.6%. This means that 79.4% of the population at the most active working age (25 - 64 years of age) is with secondary or higher education.

The National Statistical Institute presents to the attention of users interested in social statistics the newest annual bilingual (Bulgarian and English) electronic publication Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2018.

The publication contains main data from the five carried out annual comprehensive statistical surveys, which characterizing the activity of educational institutions in Bulgaria for the period from 2013/2014 to 2017/2018 school (academic) years.

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2018 in English.

The Statistical Reference Book presents topical information on the demographic processes as well as the economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Bulgaria for the 2014 - 2017 period.

The National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria offers a different view of the statistical information included in the 85th edition of the Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The publication is intended for a wider audience as statistical data are presented in a plain and easy understandable way.

The current state and changes in the socio-economic and cultural life in the country are presented not in the traditional way in tables and text, but through infographics - images, graphics and other visualization tools.

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2018 in Bulgarian.

The Statistical Reference Book presents topical information on the demographic processes as well as the economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Bulgaria for the 2014 - 2017 period.

The National Statistical Institute (NSI) has the pleasure to present to the attention of national and foreign users of statistical information the 84th edition of the ‘Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Bulgaria’ in printed and electronic format.

It provides current statistical information about the demographic, economic and social development of the country for 2012 - 2016 in different territorial and classification aggregations and breakdowns.

The National Statistical Institute presents to the attention of users interested in social statistics the newest annual bilingual (Bulgarian and English) electronic publication Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2017.

The publication contains main data from the five carried out annual comprehensive statistical surveys, which characterizing the activity of educational institutions in Bulgaria for the period from 2012/2013 to 2016/2017 school (academic) years.

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2017 in English.

The Statistical Reference Book presents topical information on the demographic processes as well as the economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Bulgaria for the 2013 - 2016 period.

The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2017 in Bulgarian.

The Statistical Reference Book presents topical information on the demographic processes as well as the economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Bulgaria for the 2013 - 2016 period.

The National Statistical Institute (NSI) has the pleasure to present to the attention of national and foreign users of statistical information the 84th edition of the ‘Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Bulgaria’ in printed and electronic format.

It provides current statistical information about the demographic, economic and social development of the country for 2011 - 2015 in different territorial and classification aggregations and breakdowns.

The National Statistical Institute presents to the attention of users interested in social statistics the newest annual bilingual (Bulgarian and English) electronic publication Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2016.

The publication contains main data from the five carried out annual comprehensive statistical surveys, which characterizing the activity of educational institutions in Bulgaria for the period from 2011/2012 to 2015/2016 school (academic) years.